


The Real Rules of Time Travel

by Mariavcwrites



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Fixed time travel, MCU compliant, deanoru - Freeform, kinda sad maybe?, what if
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25501033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mariavcwrites/pseuds/Mariavcwrites
Summary: Their future would be erased and the errors of their past fixed, or so Chase thought. What if time travel doesn't work that way? Death, betrayal... new girlfriends from the future. Those things don't just go away.Just making the end of The Runaways fit with the MCU rules of time travel.
Relationships: Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru
Comments: 24
Kudos: 46





	1. A Time Mishap

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I actually wrote this fic like in January... as a way to cope with the end of the series, and because I feel like the end left me a little unfulfilled? I just wasn't sure if I wanted to pst it. Anyway... I think it's weird that time travel is like a thing for the MCU but they did it differently, and complicating things like this gave me some room to expand the story a bit. Hope you enjoy it.

Karolina is the first one to rise to her feet. Chase just died in Gert’s arms but... it shouldn’t matter, right?

Chase is not... really dead, right?

This was all about changing the future.

And she should feel guilty about it. She promised Julie that things were not going to change, and now their life together might not even exist. She knew that it was a possibility, and she still decided to ignore it.

Just like she decided to ignore the reason.

This might change more than Gert’s death. And just this morning she was telling Julie that she was committed to what they had.

Julie...

She’s so kind, relaxed, she’s upfront about her feelings. She’s... she’s not the world of pain that Nico Minoru was.

But she’s also not what Karolina’s heart desires.

Every time she has looked at Nico ever since she came back, Karolina has felt defenseless. She has been aware of what she was getting into, that she was jeopardizing everything she had built in the last three years; but there was this voice in her head telling her that this could be her chance to fix everything.

As if any of it was Karolina’s fault.

Nico was the one that left her behind.

But this could be the way they find each other again.

“What’s going to happen? Are we going to disappear?” Nico asks, standing next to Karolina. Nico has been waiting for something to happen but there’s nothing. She has also been trying to put together a speech in her mind. If this are the last seconds that this version of her has with Karolina, she has to say that she’s sorry. She has to say that she still loves her, that she never stopped.

This was all Nico’s fault. They could have figured it out together. That’s why she decided to follow young Nico and implant that idea in her head. Back then she could have used someone to help her realize that she was being a coward and an idiot. Karolina’s light was everything she needed to guide her in the darkness. She knew it, but she was terrified, and the fact that Gert died only made her feel guilty and scared for all the tragedy that she could potentially bring to Karolina’s life if she stayed.

She never stopped to think about the pain that she brought by leaving her without a goodbye.

And now she didn’t stop to think about the fact that Karolina moved on. She had... Julie.

Shit.

Did she make a mistake by talking to the other Nico? She doesn’t even know if it’ll work tho. They might end up making the same decisions.

But it was still selfish, and stupid.

Nico takes a deep breath “Before we go, Karolina. I have to-“

“I don’t feel anything” Karolina interrupts her.

Nico looks down “Oh...”

“I mean” Karolina clears her throat and avoids Nico’s eyes “Nothing’s happening”

Molly looks at her hands, like expecting for something to happen “Nothing...” she frowns “But that can’t be, because then that means that Chase....”

The young Chase is already next to Gert and also Alex. Everyone has seen the duplicates and look confused as they discuss if this is some kind of trickery used by Morgan before she was defeated.

“Chase and Alex said that our lives were going to be erased” Molly adds, swallowing. She looks like she’s about to start crying “Is Chase dead?”

Downstairs, Gert still looks shocked. She’s still crying, and stroking Chase’s face.

“I don’t understand. He looks just like you” She tells the other Chase. “Can Morgan still do this? She’s gone... And he- he did it”

“Time travel” Nico mumbles.

“What?” Karolina asks.

Nico grabs Karolina’s arm “This is going to sound really crazy, but I think they are actually Chase and Alex from the future”

Victor Stein speaks, looking at his son “He did it... he actually did it”

“What are you all talking about? None of this makes sense” Dale says.

“Listen, I know that it doesn’t make sense, but I think that I saw myself before? I think... I think I spoke to... me”

* * *

Double shit.

Karolina turns to Nico.

“You did what? That’s what you were doing when you left me?”

“I... I had a very good reason”

“Yeah you always do”

“Can we talk about this later? We have to go”

“No!” Molly speaks “We’re not leaving Chase”

Nico looks at Molly and grabs her arms “Molly... that’s not even our Chase-“

“How can you say that!” Molly pulls her arm back suddenly, and then, after she closes her eyes, they have that yellow ring around her pupils. “Karolina was always right about you. You just don’t care about leaving any of us behind”

Then she starts walking. Nico tries to stop her but she can’t do much against Molly’s strength, and she’s not quick enough to think about a spell.

She’s been caught off guard by Molly’s words.

“Molly!! Molly, no!!!” Karolina says, but the girl is already running downstairs.

Karolina would be lying if she said that she wasn’t affected by what Molly just said.

It does bring back a lot of emotions.

It brings back that morning that she woke up alone with no explanation. And the subsequent mornings, and days, and months.

She waited for so long.

During all that time, Karolina focused on taking care of Molly and Chase, because Alex basically left them too to start working with his father. She was left alone and had to ignore her own pain, because that’s just who she was. She lost both Gert and Nico, but she put her family first, and was there to cry entire nights with Molly, to make sure that Chase would eat her meals, to help the Yorkes fix the house and convince Molly to go back to school. She did it all.

Besides, mourning Nico would only make it real. It would shatter her heart to accept that the woman that she loved more than anything had just left her like that.

And that’s how a whole year went by.

And then a few more months.

It was on Nico’s birthday that she finally realized that she had to move on.

Molly was there for her in return, and Karolina had cried and cursed, and almost destroyed their room with her bare hands, after all that time with pent up anger and loneliness she just needed to destroy everything that reminded her of Nico.

Karolina went back to the church. She went to therapy, and she actually liked it.

But nothing really fixed it... not until Julie.

God, what was she thinking coming here?

* * *

“Chase!!!” Molly cries, running to his side before the incredulous looks from the parents, and her friends and, of course, a younger Molly.

But she doesn’t care much right now. She just had to watch another one of her friends die.

“Oh boy, it’s not just me right? Everybody is seeing this” Chase says.

“Molly?” Gert asks.

And Molly looks up to her “Gert... I’m... so sorry”

“Molly what is happening?” Her sister insists.

And molly sobs, looking down at Chase again “Nico is right. We’re from the future. We all came to save you. And we did...”

“We? Who else is here?” Gert asks.

“I think it’s better if we don’t discuss all the details”

That’s when everybody turns to look at the end of the stairs, where Karolina and Nico are standing.

Then Nico speaks again “I guess the cat’s out of the bag”

* * *

Soon, everybody is reunited back at the dinning room, except for Victor and Dale that are handling Chase’s.... well, the future Chase situation.

But everybody still looks pretty shaken.

“Look, I don’t care about any time rules or whatever. We haven’t exploded, so you guys better start talking” Young Nico says.

And then Alex continues “As much as I hate to say it, and potentially put our timeline in danger, I would really like to know why you made us lock me up?”

“That’s not you” Karolina says.

“I mean that’s some version of you, but he’s not even our Alex, just like Chase wasn’t even our Chase” Nico says and then takes a deep breath “I know it’s really complicated, but we don’t know how any of this works. This was Chase’s plan and we shouldn’t even be here. He said our timeline would be erased after this”

Everybody looks at Alex.

“What? I don’t know what should have happened. Anything about time travel right now is theoretical at best. I mean, it could be one timeline that corrects itself, or changing something could actually create a new continuity. We don’t know”

Then all the eyes are back on Nico, Karolina and Molly.

Karolina is just very quiet, like her mind isn’t really there. So Nico speaks again.

“Okay, so... that. We thought that once we fixed this, we were going to be erased. That’s all we know”

“And by this, you mean me dying” Gert says, and that makes Stacey embrace her from the side.

“Chase did say that we shouldn’t interact with our past selfs, or alter things too much”

“So that’s why he decided to bring a whole person back to life” Alex says. “That has to have consequences”

“Hey” Chase says “you wouldn’t be saying that if we were talking about your life!”

Gert smiles at that.

“Okay...” Nico speaks again “We’re getting side tracked here. We don’t know what happened. But I think we should just… go back”

“Wait” Molly says “We have to, at least, give Chase a funeral”

“Molly. I think it’s better if we leave”

Karolina scoffs and mumbles under her breath “Yeah. That’s really your solution to everything”

Nico just looks at Karolina. She doesn’t know how to answer to that. Especially with everybody looking at them.

Luckily, her younger self steps in “I think that if you’re going to figure this out. You’re going to need us. We have a bunch of nerds, and the staff. We can find a way to send you back to your time or something”

Then younger Molly speaks “But I think I’m right” she says and smiles at her duplicate “We have to give Chase a funeral. He died trying to protect us, and to save Gert’s life. Even if he’s not our Chase, or your Chase. He’s still Chase-“

Chase sighs “This is really trippy”

Then Molly adds “He’s our family. And he deserves it”

Gert smiles at Molly and then squeezes Chase’s hand “That’s true. I know that what I just felt there was very real... and... terrifying. He’s our Chase too”

They all agree to that.

“It has to be private” Tina says “We can’t have the public finding out that Chase Stein is dead when you’re..” then she points at Chase “Well, here”

“I have the perfect place to do it, near the Crater. We can all go in the morning” Leslie adds.

“Please don’t say that you have a place where you just dropped all the bodies and you want to put Chase in there” Gert says.

Leslie shakes her head “Of course not. This is a beautiful place, it was supposed to be something good, away from all the murder and awful things that we did for Jonah”

“Perfect” Young Nico says with a hint of sarcasm in her tone “We can do this Pride style and everything”

Young Karolina places her hand on Nico’s back “It’s the best way to do it. He still gets to be surrounded by his friends and family”

Both Nico and Karolina are focused on the interaction between their younger selves. There used to be so much... touching. A lot of unspoken gestures to comfort and support each other.

Nico craves that closeness so much now. There hasn’t been a day where she hasn’t missed the way Karolina was with her, and today, after seeing another version of herself at the academy, it hit her that she had built a wall around herself to not feel or get close to anyone. She didn’t want to talk or interact with people. She wasn’t interested in listening.

For all Nico cared. Everyone could have disappeared.

And for a long time, she actually thought that she had successfully removed herself from everything. She didn’t care a lot about not being noticed. She wanted it.

She also didn’t give a shit about other people’s issues.

Well, that until that day that she saw Karolina crying in the bathroom.

It’s the same day that they got together for the first time after Amy’s death. And had she not seen Karolina like that before, she might have never even shown up.

Because it wasn’t just Alex’s words in the hallway. She heard them. That didn’t really moved her. It was like she was listening, but she was still completely detached from reality.

But then Karolina, the perfect, shiny church girl was crying alone in a bathroom. What had she missed all this time? Why kind of stupid high school drama would have someone like her crying like that? Nico wasn’t about to let Karolina Dean of all people have an opinion about her life. Her first reaction was to shut Karolina out; but the truth was, for the first time in months, Nico actually... noticed.

And she remembered that conversation that the others had in the classroom before.

She remembered Karolina being bullied and picked on by people constantly.

Nico had actually seen a lot of that. She just didn’t care. She didn’t want to think about any of that.

But right there in that bathroom, they were alone but it somehow felt a little less lonely. It felt like seeing a real person, even though Karolina still tried to pretend that she wasn’t in pain. She would still try to hide behind a smile. That was the first brick that Karolina tore out from Nico’s wall. It brought her back to life for a second. Enough to get her to Alex’s house that night, at the very least just because she was curious.

Looking at how in love their younger versions are now, it stings a bit. She ruined everything the moment she decided to leave, and Karolina has all the right to be angry, and have a new life and a new... girlfriend.

What was Nico thinking trying to fix their past? She doesn’t deserve Karolina. She was just another person that hurt her, maybe even the one that hurt her the most.

Nico sighs “Yes... the funeral. If we do that in the morning, maybe we should... rest for a bit”

“Should we… stay?” Tina Minoru asks.

But young Nico is quick to answer “I see everything that happened here tonight… but we’re still not quite there. And now we have a whole new thing going on. I think it’s better if we meet tomorrow”

Tina nods at Nico, and then at Karolina, who has an arm wrapped against her daughter. They haven’t even had time to talk about that yet. But she’s willing to give Nico al the space that she needs. They already took a first step into building some kind of relationship, and they lost Robert. Tina wants to pick the pieces of her family back… on Nico’s terms.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Stacey asks Gert, cupping her head in her hands, almost as if she was still checking her for some kind of injury.

Gert just try to pull Stacey’s arms back down “Yeah… I’m fine mom. I think we just need to rest. We’re together” She says the last part smiling at Chase “We’re going to be just fine”

Eventually, the parents say the goodbyes and accept to leave. They take Chase’s body, and also help Geoffrey walk out of the mansion. The kids don’t even care at this point that all the parents know where they live. They seem to have come to an agreement here, at least for now. The world has been saved, and as bad as it sounds they wouldn’t have been able to pull it off without some extra help from Pride.

Who knows, maybe saving billions of lives is a start after the ones that they took.

They will have to discuss that after Chase’s funeral.

Now… about the other thing.

“We don’t have a lot of fancy rooms left” Young Nico says “I guess Chase’s room is available… or we have a couch”

“I’ll take the couch” Karolina says and then walks away, leaving the two Nicos alone.

Young Nico looks a little confused. “Is everything okay there?”

Nico just avoids her eyes and tries to smile “Yeah… you know Karolina”

The younger girl nods “Exactly. I know Karolina”

“Look. Like I said, maybe it’s better that we don’t interact a lot, or just talk… in general. I think Alex is freaking out a bit about time rules”

“But we already did… You came to me, right?”

Nico shakes her head “No, I didn’t”

“I was really afraid tonight, and I had this idea… I was thinking me being here could put everybody in danger, especially Karolina. And I feel like you said something… you were trying to make me change my mind”

Nico sighs “Look, whatever happens right now… it’s going to be your decision. But you just... don’t be afraid okay? Everything will be alright. Trust your heart”

* * *

Nothing has really happened after Nico, Karolina and Molly interacted with their past counterparts but they’re still trying to keep that contact to a minimum.

Just to be safe.

So Karolina and Gert walk Nico and Molly to Chase's room, while Alex gets the couch ready for the other Karolina.

Nobody is really talking about the fact that at this point it’s obvious that Karolina and Nico are not a thing in the future.

So that leaves young Nico freaking out a little bit while Chase and Molly help her change the sheets that are stained with Geoffrey’s blood.

“Do you think that future Nicolina hate each other?” Molly asks.

Nico doesn’t even have time to say anything before Chase speaks “Gert calls them Deanoru”

“What?” Nico asks.

“Gert is really good at coming up with those names” Chase shrugs.

And that makes Molly smile “So that means you like Chert now?”

“Now I know that I could have lost Gert tonight… I’m just happy that she’s here to call us however she wants. I’m lucky to be one half of Chert”

Nico sits on the bed with a loud sigh, which makes Chase and Molly turn to look at her “You literally invented time travel to save the girl that you love… I think all I ever accomplished was lose Karolina somehow”

Chase and Molly look at each other, then Chase speaks “Whatever is going on with those two… that’s not you and Karolina”

“It’s literally us in three years, Chase”

“Well, we know that our future can be different now, right? Besides. Even if you break up, I don’t think that you guys would stay apart for long. I have never seen two people more in love”

“Chase is right”

“I’m feeling a bit inspired tonight” He ads, wrapping one arm around Molly’s shoulder.

Nico’s lips curve up in a small smile “I’m glad she made it. I don’t know what any of us could have done if we had lost Gert tonight. I’m also sorry… you died”

“I guess it’s kinda messed up. But yeah, it could have been worse”

In that moment, Karolina walks inside the room “Gert is waiting for you”

“And that’s my cue” Chase smiles “Come on, Molly”

“I still want to talk with old Molly”

“Alex is super freaked out. I think that at least tonight we should just rest and try to avoid destroying the timeline or something” Chase says as they leave the room and close the door behind them.

“Everything okay?” Karolina asks.

Nico just nods.

“You saw them, right?”

“I think that I know why the older Nico came to me before”

* * *

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Yes, Alex. Old Lace is here. I think she doesn’t mind that there are two Karolinas”

They hear a soft roar in the pile of pillows next to the couch.

Karolina continues “We need to sleep, and tomorrow we’ll figure out what to do”

“I certainly hope to figure out what to do about… well… me”

“Yeah, we don’t even know a lot about what’s up with him”

Alex just looks down for a moment, thinking for a second before he fishes a small piece of paper out of his pocket “Maybe you should see this”

Karolina takes the small note and reads it “What is this?”

“I think that the other Alex left it for me”

“What? Why would Alex want to kill Nico?”

“I don’t know, you tell me. Doesn’t seem like you’re too fond of her right now”

Karolina sighs “That’s… personal. But I would never want Nico dead! Look, I think only Alex can give us more answers, but for now we need to keep our eyes open. Whatever happened, didn’t happen in our time yet, but maybe we can still fix it. We can talk about it after Chase’s funeral”

“Okay” Alex looks down “I would never do it, Karolina. I would never want to kill Nico”

She offers him a kind smile and strokes his arm “I know. We’re going to make it right. I promise”

* * *

Nico can’t really sleep that night.

It’s nothing new tho. She was able to achieve some peace through meditation, but in the last three years there’s been a lot of sleepless nights. Once she got used to sleep in Karolina’s arms she found out that it was almost impossible to just go back and not have her.

The bad dreams started after Amy died, and it became worse as her magic grew stronger. It was Karolina the one that chased the nightmares away. She was her light even in her dreams. She made her feel at peace like she hadn’t been able to feel in years.

And there was also the fact that Karolina was just so warm, and cuddly.

And she would get really…playful in the mornings, as the sun came through their window it was like it would charge Karolina with so much energy. The sunlight on her skin would make her glow even without her powers, but Nico still loved to trigger those beams of pink and purple light as she kissed her girlfriend lovingly.

At night it was even better.

How could Nico not get addicted to that?

She remembers that they couldn’t stand more than a couple of nights away from each other back then. But then she took off. And it was horrible for Nico, but Karolina didn’t even had a say in it. Karolina that wanted her more than anything. And Nico wasn’t strong enough to believe in it.

It’s probably almost time to wake up. She has barely closed her eyes, but they decided to leave for the crater a 5.

Nico walks out of the room, being careful not to wake up Molly.

She stops when she hears noise coming from the kitchen.

And a part of her just feels it. It’s Karolina.

“Hey” Nico says, leaning against the doorframe.

Karolina doesn’t even look at her.

“I’m making coffee. Do you want some?”

“Sure”

And just like that. It’s back to this awkward silence. They haven’t been really alone since this whole thing started.

Only that moment when they got to hear their younger selves making promises and being so in love.

Just before Nico ran and left Karolina there.

Nico clears her throat “Trouble sleeping?”

Karolina shrugs “I got used to waking up early”

Nico almost chuckles “You weren’t really an early bird-“

Karolina finally looks at her “Nico. Don’t”

“I’m sorry”

And Nico means about everything. But she can’t really find more words.

“I think you’re right. We have to do this for Chase, but then we go back. We didn’t get erased, so we have to go back to our lives”

Nico nods “Do you think that our lives are going to be the same back there?”

Karolina shrugs again. She goes back to the coffee and then grabs two cups. “We have to go back and find out”

“Do you want it? To be the same…”

Karolina sighs and stares at the cups of coffee for a second.

Does she?

She definitely doesn’t feel the same as the previous morning when she woke up. She was doing great. Nico Minoru was not in her head, and she was able to sleep. She was able to have a life. Could she just go back to that?

Karolina nods. But she knows that she’s lying; to Nico and to herself.


	2. The Color of my Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids and their parents have to meet to bury Chase, but the tension grows as they have to deal with a new problem with the watches. Trapped, Karolina and Nico are forced to finally start facing their feelings.

The drive to the crater is just as awkward. They arrive in two cars, and they keep the future kids in one, which makes Karolina and Nico share the same space for about an hour.

Karolina still picks the front seat in the Rolls, next to young Alex. Nico and Molly are in the back. Chase, Gert and the present versions of Karolina, Nico and Molly are in the SUV, along with Old Lace.

They meet the surviving parents of pride at the site. It’s a hill near the crater, with a beautiful view and lots of green and woods around. It’s still secluded and owned by Leslie, so it should be safe to have Chase’s body there.

Victor even managed to get a coffin and brought a hydraulic arm to help them dig the hole. It’s as dignified as they could manage in such short notice. Leslie has prepared a speech and it’s actually not too bad. Everyone is moved to tears, it doesn’t matter that this isn’t the Chase that they knew.

Gert still cries holding his hand. She thanks him for what he did. She thanks him for giving them a second chance, and promises not to waste it.

“And you know what? I’m sorry for not saying it back. I’m sorry that you didn’t get to hear it, but you turned up to be a freaking genius. So you knew it, right?” The purple haired girl says her last words with a sob, but then a strong arm is holding her. She turns her head to see Chase, still very much alive, next to her. “You know it, right?”

He smiles and nods. He chooses not to say anything, and kisses Gert’s forehead lovingly.

Nico and Karolina just share a quiet look.

What is going to happen when they go back?

If Karolina said a world, Nico would do anything right now to give them a chance. Hell, she already tried when she talked to the other Nico. She hopes that the idea just sticks in her brain and she doesn’t make the same mistake that Nico made.

Maybe this won’t change the future, but it could make it right for another version of them.

Because at this point, Nico is not so sure that her Karolina will ever want her back. She’s just not the same person. She doesn’t have the same spark in her eyes. It’s almost like her light has faded, in some way.

And this was all Nico’s fault.

She can’t hold her tears anymore, and walks back to the Rolls.

When this is all over, maybe she can go back to the Master. She could use some time to think and try to get over all the things that just happened here.

Maybe she could just go right now.

Because that’s her solution for everything, right? Running away.

* * *

“We have a problem” Nico tells Karolina when they’re back at the house. She finds her sitting at the dinning table, drinking more coffee.

“What?”

Nico, then, drops her time watch on the table “These aren’t working anymore”

Karolina frowns, staring at the watch.

It clicks in a second.

“How do you know?”

“Well… I was just taking a look at it”

Karolina looks up to Nico “You tried to use it”

Nico shakes her head “We said we were going to leave after Chase’s funeral. I was just-“

“Oh my God, Nico!” Karolina stands up “You just did it again! You were going to leave us behind!”

“I wasn’t- We’re going to the same place! There are enough watches”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. I can’t believe that for a second I thought-“

“You thought what?”

“Forget it!You’re just the same coward that you were three years ago!”

“I thought this is what you wanted! You were in such a hurry to go back to Julie!”

Karolina scoffs “Julie has nothing-“

“Who’s Julie?”

They stop to look at the door, where the young versions of themselves are standing, holding hands because why not? They were like that, right?

“That would be Karolina’s girlfriend” Nico says, placing her hands on her hips and looking down.

“What!” The young Nico asks, dropping Karolina’s hand.

“Yes. People move on after they have been abandoned without a goodbye for three years, Nico!” Karolina replies.

And then her young counterpart looks at her Nico.

“What??”

“So much for not messing up the timeline”

They didn’t even notice that Alex, Chase, Gert and even the two Mollys that are there too, they must have been curious about all the yelling.

“I- I swear I wouldn’t do that!” Young Nico says.

“I don’t know any Julie…”

“Oh… but you will” Nico presses her lips together in a tight smile, then she looks at her Karolina “Look, none of this matters. You want to get back to your life. The point is that the damn watches don’t work! We’re stuck here”

“That’s not the point, Nico! The point is that this was another thing that we should have figured out together. But you didn’t want to. You wanted to run away on your own and leave me behind!”

“If you’re so worried about getting stuck here, we can always go and find you Julie from the present”

Shit.

Yeah that probably was something very stupid to say, and everybody goes awkwardly silent in that moment.

“You know what, Nico… you can go f-“

“Don’t! Molly’s here” Gert cuts Karolina.

She doesn’t finish her phrase, but she does walk away.

“I’m older now” The Molly from the future replies.

“Okay… what the hell was that about?” Young Nico asks.

“Maybe we should go” Chase says and Gert nods.

“Come on Mollies” Gert says, grabbing her two sisters, and Alex follows them.

Nico has sat down on the chair where Karolina was sitting before, with her face against the table.

“You probably shouldn’t have heard that”

“You abandoned me?” Karolina asks her.

Nico lifts her head from the table “Yes. I mean, not you… her. Sort of-“

“Sort of?” Now it’s young Nico speaking “This is what you came to talk to me about right?”

“Wait. You had to be talked out of doing that?” Karolina asks, but then turns to the older Nico “When did you leave?”

“After Gert’s funeral”

“Oh my God”

“Wait… no. I- I wouldn’t do that. Karolina, I swear” Young Nico says, grabbing Karolina’s arm.

“But you were thinking about it…”

Older Nico interrupts them “No!… no, no, no. This was my mistake. Gert’s death changed everything. And my- And Karolina was right. I was a coward, and I have regretted it every day of my life. Karolina, she loves you more than her own life and I know from a very reliable source that, at least for the next three years, she’s going to feel exactly the same way. You two can’t make the same mistakes that we did”

Karolina and Nico look at each other, and they smile.

They really used to be like that. They had this unspoken connection, they didn’t need any words to express what they were feeling.

Karolina looks at the future Nico again “Nico, I think that I’m also a reliable source when I say this… and I don’t feel like things have changed as much as you think”

Nico looks down “Well, now we have a bigger fish to fry anyway. We can’t go back to our timeline”

The other Nico grabs the watch “We can get the nerd herd working on that”

* * *

But a couple of days later Victor, Janet, Chase and Alex aren’t anywhere near close to fixing it.

Their theory is that at least three new timelines exist. Time doesn’t just make things disappear. Nico, Karolina and Molly’s past is currently their present, so it’s not like changing anything here will erase the entire world where they came from.

They still don’t know if it could be changed, but it’s definitely still out there somewhere.

The problem is that it’s changed its… _address_. What used to be one timeline, is now divided in three, which they have to lock down in order to have the watches send them to the right time and place.

One mistake could send them to the wrong spot and create something new, or even kill them. There’s no wonder why this took Chase over 10 years.

And probably more technology than what they have available right now. Even with all of their parent’s resources.

And Nico’s magic is just not as powerful to accomplish such a thing, not without the staff. It’s not like she even has it here, and she doesn’t know if she can summon it, being in another whole timeline and all.

Besides it feels absolutely horrible to have that thing come out from her body. It’s not only physically painful, but it also feels like she’s falling into a dark, cold pit. She loses all notion of where she’s standing, or if she’s even breathing, or seeing anything, and it’s just… terrifying.

They could always try using the other staff here in the present.

But she’s not that desperate yet.

There’s no other reason. It has nothing to do with not wanting to send Karolina back to Julie’s arms. Because that would be a new low. Even for Nico.

Goddammit. She has to, at least, try.

“Hey. I need your help” She asks the young Nico the moment she sees her. “I- I haven’t seen your staff?”

“Uhm, I haven’t seen yours”

Nico smiles “Right. Yeah. That’s because I don’t have it here”

“You’re not using magic anymore?”

“No. I am. Just… not with the staff necessarily”

“Oh. That sounds amazing”

Nico smiles again and then moves her hands to conjure a simple spell that reveals some shapes and colors “Yeah. It won’t be enough to send us back to the future”

Her younger self stares at the colors for a second before Nico stops. “Funny. I remember Morgan and the other witches’ magic manifested with specific colors, even Tina’s. But those colors remind me of something else. I like it”

“Shut up”

Nico chuckles but changes the subject “Is she still avoiding you?” The older Nico nods “That’s not very encouraging you know? My Karolina has been feeling a bit insecure about it”

“I already told you. What I did, has nothing to do with you two. You can make different choices”

“Oh yeah. I’m not an idiot”

“Thanks” Nico rolls her eyes.

“Anytime” She smiles “And if you need the staff, I mean I don’t know if it’ll work, but you know where I keep it”

“Right”

* * *

“I’m telling you. You know that you’re the only person here that has the guts to do what’s necessary. It’s not necessarily good, but it’s survival. You think now that they’re your family, but so were Geoffrey and Catherine and look how that turned out. Believe me. Nico has to die”

“I would never do that. She’s my friend. She risked everything to save my life” Young Alex replies.

They still have the other Alex tied up in the Garage, with Old Lace keeping guard outside.

“No. She broke your heart and left you for Karolina, and then tried to make some amends”

“I’m not going to kill her for that! And that was a long time ago”

“But you never really got over that, did you? It came back to you when you spent 6 months in that cell. That you would have never abandoned her, that she did it to you because she only ever cared about Karolina”

“If you don’t shut your mouth right now-“

“Less than two minutes ago you told me that I better start talking”

“About the note!”

Future Alex laughs “I don’t know what’s not clear about the note. Half of the Pride will follow into their parents’ steps, because that what it takes to take down Nico. They will unleash something even worse, because at the end of the day, nobody is ready to do what must be done in order to survive. You have to stop this before it even starts”

“What are you… You can’t change the future. Even if you killed Nico right now it wouldn’t make any difference”

“I’m still going to change one future. Yours”

“What did she do?”

They both turn to see future Karolina standing next to the door, with her arms crossed.

“I told you to wait outside”

“Well, have you gotten something out of him?”

“Some stuff”

“You know, you could do it. You are the only person that could get close enough, and she would never see it coming” Future Alex says.

Karolina sighs “Alex, whatever it is. We can fix it together. Like we used to do. We already saved Gert’s life, that’s going to change a lot of things”

“Like what? Nico is not going to leave little Karolina? She’s going to… stay in the path of the light or some bullshit? It’s not worth the risk”

She sighs “Forget about it. You have until we figure out a way to leave the past to come around and actually help us whatever apocalypse-“

“She’s going to kill Julie”

* * *

Nico takes a moment when she steps inside her old bedroom.

She had never seen this place since the night that she left. She still remembers Karolina sleeping next to her. She didn’t look happy, even tho she always had a smile and a kind word for everyone. Karolina was dealing with the pain and the guilt while trying to be there for all of them.

Nico didn’t even have the guts to say goodbye. She could have never done it. Karolina just had to tell her to stay and all her plans would have crumbled right there. Nico still feels weak just by staring into those blue eyes.

She hasn’t really seen anything like that.

She hasn’t been happy like she was in this room.

Nico goes to the old tree against the wall. She knows that the staff is there so she crouches down, in front of the hole between the tree and the wall.

Karolina just deserves to go back to whatever makes her happy.

“What are you doing?”

Nico freezes. Karolina hasn’t been exactly talking to her except for... fighting.

She reaches for the Staff and picks it up.

“Just… testing a theory”

Karolina sighs as a shiver runs down her spine “Hadn’t seen that thing in a while”

“Me neither, to be honest. But I thought we might as well give it a try. If we ever want to go back to our time” she looks down “You have a life to go back to”

Karolina takes one step closer, deciding to ignore what Nico just said “You’re not afraid of it anymore?”

Nico shakes her head “I understand it. I know that I don’t need it. And I can control it. There’s nothing to be afraid of”

“And that’s why you left, right? You didn’t want to be scared anymore… of what you could do…”

Nico nods her head “That and because I was a big idiot” now she’s the one that takes a step closer. “Karolina, you- you deserved better. I’m going to make it up to you now” She adds, raising the Staff with her hand.

But Karolina scoffs “You still talk like that”

“Like what?”

“Nico, like you’re not considering what could happen. Like you’re not thinking about other people, what they want, or consequences. You just want to get things done all by yourself. You get one idea in your head that you think that is right, and then you go do it”

“I thought this was what you wanted”

“I wanted a lot of things. You knew that. You knew all about my hopes, and my fears”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you”

“You thought that I was going to be happy that the woman that I loved left in the middle of the night?”

“Not happy, but safe”

“Try heartbroken. Devastated”

Nico looks down, unable to stop tears from coming out of her eyes “I’m really sorry”

“Let me ask you something. You think that it was worth it? You think that you succeeded?!”

Nico sobs and tries to take a deep breath. She still can’t look at Karolina “I think that I succeeded, but it definitely wasn’t worth it. Nothing in the world is worth losing you. And if I could, I would change everything. I tried. But now we know that we can’t change the future. And that’s good, I guess, because I would have, selfishly, ruined your life again just because I have missed you every second for the last three years of my life”

Karolina swallows the ugly knot in her throat. She wasn’t expecting such an… intense answer. It isn’t really a surprise tho. Deep down she knows that all the feelings are still there.

She doesn’t really have a life to go back to, does she? Not after Nico decided to show up again. And just like that, Nico is willing to give up on them again.

“That’s why you went to talk to the other Nico that night, didn’t you?”

Nico looks down “I shouldn’t have done that”

“No, Nico. You shouldn’t have left. You- you shouldn’t... now” She wants to tell her. Karolina has to tell Nico that she didn’t even succeed, that it was all for nothing.

“Karolina...”

“All I needed, was for you to trust your heart. To let me help”

A pause. It’s quiet enough that Nico can hear her own heartbeat, almost as if she hadn’t heard that thing in a while. And only now Nico realizes how close they are.

It crosses Nico’s mind that it was Karolina the one that had the courage to start everything in first place. What would have happened is she had not kissed Nico that night at Atlas? It was more than just the start of their story. It was a lifeline for Nico to hold onto at a moment of her life where she felt completely lost. Karolina, with her love and kindness, was able to bring her back to life, to make her care, or more like... to make her realize that she already did.

Maybe the least she owes Karolina is to be the brave one now.

And just like that, Nico stops thinking and goes for what her heart is telling her. This is what Karolina meant, right? She needed to trust her heart, to have faith in them and stop running on her own.

This actually feels right.

Nico crashes her lips against Karolina’s, moving her hands up tp cup her face and tilt her head down a bit. This is a little bit more complicated when Karolina doesn’t help.

Wait.

She stops. Her legs feel weak and she’s actually taken aback by Karolina not responding to it. Nico is breathing heavily, and they are still inches apart. When Nico opens her eyes, she finds Karolina with her eyes still closed, like she’s frozen in her place.

“I’m so-“

But before Nico can finish her sentence, Karolina’s hands finally move, holding Nico’s hips, and she kisses her back desperately. It really goes from a soft, tentative kiss to Karolina pushing her tongue inside Nico’s mouth in 5 seconds.

Even less before Karolina has pushed Nico towards their old bed.

“Karolina, if you want to stop...” Nico breathes out, but she gets no response, only more kisses and tugging at her clothes and then...

One of the things that Nico has missed the most was Karolina’s smile, because she, like no one else, was able to make all the bad things go away with just that. And ever since Nico came back, it’s like that whole optimistic, hopeful part of Karolina is gone.

But that’s not the only thing that comes back. Karolina feels it first, of course, but soon the room is filled with bright, pink and purple lights. It’s just as Nico remembers it. Just as incredible and warm and amazing.

They stop for a second as Karolina stares at her own hands, still smiling, even laughing.

“I also missed that” Nico says.

“Me too” Karolina replies before she turns it off and then cups Nico’s face to kiss her again. There aren’t a lot of words after that. It’s almost like those three years never happened as the clothes start coming off. They’re back on their old bed, back on each other’s arms and it’s just natural. Nico uses a spell to lock the door to Karolina’s amusement.

“Love the color of your magic” Karolina says as she kisses down Nico’s neck.

“That was always the color of my magic”

That makes Karolina stop and move back up, to look at the woman that she still loves, just as much as she always did. The pain is still there, but she can ignore it in this moment because what she’s feeling right now... it just doesn’t compare to anything else. Nico’s lips, Nico’s loving words, Nico’s touch... that’s everything Karolina ever wanted.

She really had a life to come back to, but it’s right here with her, right now.

* * *

“Are you seriously talking comic books right now?” Gert crosses her arms. She’s with Chase in Alex’s room.

“All I’m saying is... the justice league were heroes, yet Batman had a contingency plan just in case anyone took a turn to the dark side”

“Alex…”

“You know, what if superman went evil? Who can stop him?”

“And Nico is our Superman? Does that make you Batman?” Gert raises an eyebrow at Alex.

“Batman would be way cooler than Wilder” Chase teases.

“Whatever this is... don’t you think if it’s better that we discuss it you know, together?” Gert adds.

“I don’t know how Nico’s going to take knowing that her future self might go full evil. And Karolina is just going to side with her”

“What about Molly?” Chase adds.

Alex sighs “It’s not like we’re making decisions right now. I just want to talk about this with someone”

Gert looks at Chase, and then back to Alex “Anyway. The future is already changed, right? Not that I want to say that I’m the glue that keeps this band of misfits together... but hey, you guys did split after I...”

Chase wraps his arm around Gert and then kisses the top of her head “Sounds like the glue to me” He smiles “Gert is right. Everything is fine now. Morgan is defeated, Gert is alive, Nico is not leaving. We’re all togethe. There’s no reason for any of us to go all murder crazy or whatever”

Alex sighs “The power that Nico has is still kinda scary”

“And she’ll have her family to help her through it, Alex. We had enough conspiracies and awful things happen to us. We need a break. We just have to fix those watches and try to have normal lives. As normal as we can”

“Alright. But we have to at least address this thing at some point”

“If we do it, we have to do it together”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I want to give you another chapter to really get things going :D so you get a better idea about the general plot here.
> 
> Also... yeah a lot of stuff happened.
> 
> I hope it doesn't get too confusing as the future crew interacts with the kids in the present, I know I was a little confused as I wrote it hahaha but I tried my best. Now Nico, Karolina, Molly and bad Alex are stuck in the past... so who knows where this is going.
> 
> Any theories?


	3. The Staff Demands Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karolina and Nico keep working on fixing their relationship, but since when do the Runaways get a day without their world turning upside down?

Nico breathes deeply. They’re still holding hands under the covers, but they are both looking up, facing the ceiling.

Once the moment is over, and they have calmed down a bit, a lot of things that didn’t seem too important a few minutes ago are back on Nico’s mind. It does feel a little awkward. And thoughts about Karolina regretting this start appearing in her mind. She’s kinda waiting for her to say that it was a mistake, that they let themselves get carried away.

Although, it’s reassuring that she’s not letting go of Nico’s hand.

“You good?”

That’s the best thing that Nico can come up with. Just because she needs to say something-

“I mean... can’t complain”

Nico chuckles “Is this awkward? I mean I totally get it if you-”

Karolina turns to lay on her side, facing Nico “I don’t think it could ever be awkward between us”

Nico also changes her position to face Karolina. That caught her off guard a bit, but it still feels like a huge weight has left her, like all her fears and pain are gone, at least for this moment. Karolina’s blue eyes are as intense and shinny and hopeful as they used to be. She’s… she’s happy right now.“Well, I need to ask and ruin the moment. What about Julie?”

“I feel terrible about it. I never really thought about myself as someone that could... you know, cheat on a person”

“I’m sorry. It was my fault, I-“

“Nico... I can’t really continue lying to myself, and also lying to Julie in a way. There’s only ever been you. I made a decision the moment I decided to come to the past, knowing that all my life and choices could be erased”

“But they weren’t”

“I know, but I was willing to let it happen. I wasn’t ready to admit it, but I was willing to risk everything if it meant that we had a small chance of fixing us. I just confirmed it when I heard… well, myself telling you that I would never give up. Nico, I never could”

Nico breathes deeply “Wow”

Her heart is racing. She never expected this to take a turn like this, especially after everything that they have been doing for the last week is fight.

“And I can’t keep fighting you” Karolina continues, almost as if she was reading Nico’s mind “I thought it was easier to try to be angry at you, but I don’t think I can. I don’t like how that feels”

“I don’t deserve you” Nico says, moving her hand to stroke Karolina’s cheek, moving a loose strand of hair off her face.

Karolina takes Nico’s wrist and kisses her hand. “I want to say no, because It’s going to take a lot more than this to get me to totally forgive you, but... nothing else feels like this. You literally brought my light back. We both deserve to have this”

Nico smiles “You know, technically... Julie and you are not together right now in 2019, so maybe it’s not exactly cheating”

The blond almost rolls her eyes at that. She sits up against the headboard and Nico does the same. “That’s not an excuse. I’ll tell her everything. What I did was wrong and I have to own up to it. I have to talk to Julie before we can move forward”

Nico frowns “Oh. So...”

“So, we’re on hold, missy” Karolina says, booping Nico’s nose with her finger.

“We literally just had sex”

“Exactly. That was bad-“

“No... It was really, really good” Nico teases, leaning closer.

Karolina can’t help but chuckle at that “What I meant... is that I don’t want to feel worse. Also, I might be willing to forgive you, but you’re not going to have it that easy”

Nico pouts.

“Not even with that face” Karolina adds.

“Right. Okay. You’re right. Let’s talk to Julie, and start over. We’ll make it right. No secrets. No doing things alone or being a complete idiot”

Karolina smiles, she almost unconsciously brushes Nico’s fingers with her own “We need to find a way to go back first”

“Which reminds me. I have to bring the Staff to Chase”

“You sure about that?”

“Are you still afraid of it?”

“It’s not- I mean can you blame me? Look at what that thing did to us, to you, to our family”

“Well, part of it was my fault. And the fact that I didn’t know anything about it, or how to handle the power that came with it. But I literally lost the most important thing in my life only to focus on this thing. Arguably not really worth it, but I did learn a lot. It has to be useful now”

Karolina smiles and grabs Nico’s hand again “I trust you. I know you, and I should have known that there was no way that Morgan could have turned you. You’re good” she looks down “No one can change that”

“Uhm… What do I feel like you’re talking about something specific here?”

Karolina looks up again, her eyes finding Nico’s “You said no secrets, right? I have to tell you something”.

* * *

“WILDER!”

By then, the Mollies have joined Chase, Gert and Alex in his room.

Young Nico and Karolina come out of the dinning room when they hear all the yelling.

“You’re going to tell me what the hell are you up to now” Nico demands, with Karolina following her close behind.

And if anyone notices de disheveled hair and smudged make up, nobody says anything.

“You told her?” Alex asks Karolina “Literally after what the other me just told us?”

“Exactly because of that. Look, Alex, whatever happened in that future… that’s not Nico. It’s not going to happen. I don’t care what he says, but if we sit down and let him say these things, that’s definitely not how we fix it”

“Woah… Is this a Nico situation now? What did you do now?” Young Nico asks her older self, but only gets a shrug in return.

“It doesn’t matter” Karolina continues “It won’t happen for you, and it won’t happen for us. Bad things only happened when we were apart, and broken”

“And for all we know, bad facial hair Wilder could be lying to us”

“Chase has a point” Gert adds “He wanted you to do three things, infiltrate some company, hide a guy and kill Nico. What if he’s the bad guy and he needs Nico out of the picture to do something with said company and guy?”

“Yeah, Wilder. Batman could be the one that turns evil. What would be the plan there?”

Young Molly frowns “Why are we talking about comics?”

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure super strength could take care of that” The older Molly replies.

Alex stands up “Hey! Why do I have to be the bad guy?”

“Why do I?” Nico counters.

Karolina grabs her arm “Maybe if you confront him? Maybe he’ll tell you the truth”

“Or maybe we can go together and make him” Young Nico says “Do you have the staff?”

“It’s still upstairs”

The younger witch raises an eyebrow “What? You got distracted on your way to get it like half an hour ago?”

Karolina clears her throat “Okay. Let’s focus on the Alex thing”

“I do have a truth spell” Nico shrugs.

“Good” Gert says “That’s exactly what our Parents would do. I mean, if nobody else is worried about the fact that they said that in the future you guys are going to become Pride 2.0”

“Well, that’s because you weren’t there to tell us exactly that” Chase retorts “Let’s get him”

“Maybe don’t sound so excited about it” Alex says as he follows the rest of the group to the garage.

Old Lace is sleeping peacefully next to the door, like she always does after a big meal, so nobody bothers her until they get to the door, which is slightly open.

Chase and the younger Nico are in front, they share a look before getting inside, only to find Alex gone.

“That little-“ Chase starts.

“Where is he?” Molly asks.

The Staff.

Nico doesn’t know, but she can feel it.

She’s in the back of the group, still outside of the garage, but she looks up to her old room.

Karolina is next to her, and she’s quick to notice that something isn’t right, but before she can say anything, the younger Nico joins them.

“The staff” She says

They both run, which alerts the rest of the group so they quickly follow. They come to a stop when they watch Alex from the future emerge from the room with the staff of one in his hand.

“Alex, whatever you think that you’re doing…” Nico starts, taking one step forward. “It won’t work, believe me. You will end up hurting yourself”

“It takes something witchy to kill a witch” He says.

Now Karolina takes a step to join Nico at the front “We talked about this. We can fix it as a family. It’s not too late. Whatever it is... we’re all here for you”

“Come on, will you ever shut up, Karolina? It’s annoying, frankly. There’s no half full cup here! There’s nothing we can fix! The timelines don’t change! No matter what we do!” He stops at the end of the stairs. “Besides... you were never there when it mattered”

”Alex... it’s never too late. We’re here now. Please” She insists.

“There’s no point in hurting the people that care about you, man” Younger Alex says, but he still stays behind with the rest of the group.

“Oh but you’ll learn with time, that it feels damn good” He raises the staff and pricks his finger with it “The staff of one demands a blood offering-”

“Alex no!”

They notice how he raises his other hand, with blood dripping from it “I’m about to give it to it” He starts grumbling in pain, and the staff shakes in his hands as it comes to life. He points it at Nico, and the light in the top ring begins to flicker. “Come on…”

Karolina steps in front of Nico without a second thought. She covers her with her body and then bursts into a flaming rainbow of light, like nothing they had seen before. It’s like… pink fire around her. “Don’t even try it!”

Nico’s hands have rings and shapes of the same color around them “Alex! Please! You can’t do it! It doesn’t work like that…”

“Once you’re gone, I get to have everything!” He yells, but he’s almost about to fall on his knees.

“Alex! Stop!!”

“BURN!!!”

* * *

It all happens in a matter of seconds. Nico quickly conjures a protecting spell, it has to be big enough to protect everybody, which is… big. But the flames move fast, it’s more like an explosion of pure fire, and Nico can feel the heat starting to engulf them. She panics.

Not again.

She’s not going to be able to close the spell in time. 

Not this again. No. No...

Nico closes her eyes as she repeats the spell like a prayer. She has all this power, and once again her family could die because she’s not good enough to protect them. Because she’s weak and a big coward. She could have easily stoped Alex a moment before, but she was scared to hurt him… again. And now-

She opens her eyes when she feels Karolina’s hand on hers. What her magic shield didn’t get to cover is finished by a big light bubble, and Karolina is smiling at her with all the sweetness and love that define her perfectly. The fire is all around them, but the shield is holding and Nico gets to complete the spell easily, reinforcing the barrier of light under it.

They make it work together, as they always should have. She looks back just to make sure everyone is there. They look scared, but they’re all safe and holding each other.

Karolina squeezes Nico’s hand to make it look at her “It’s fine” She says.

Nico nods in response and feels like she wants to cry a little. She was so stupid. How did she take so long to realize that Karolina was always the missing piece of the puzzle. She never needed more power. Nico only ever needed a little bit of light.

And that honest smile, those kind eyes…

“I’m so sorry” Nico whispers.

Karolina smiles and uses her free arm to pull Nico close to her “I know”

They keep the barrier up until the fire begins to fade, but it does reveal a pretty badly burned hostel.

Nico sobs and wipes a few tears with the back of her hand before speaking to the rest of the group “Alright. We turn this off and we need you to stay close together. I think we have to get out of here fast. Before this place crumbles down on our heads”

As she says this, a few pieces of debris fall against the shield.

Karolina nods.

“Ok…”

The barrier comes off and they immediately feel a wave of burning heat, the smell of ash and the sound of wood creaking and about to fall.

Nico moves quickly and her hands move gracefully as she conjures more magic to stabilize the structure around them and try to contain the fire. Karolina stays to protect the group as the other Nico run upstairs to join her counterpart.

There’s nothing left of Alex, just the Staff of one.

“I don’t think that quite worked as he expected” The young Nico says.

“It already has its master” The older girl sighs and proceeds to make what could only be described as some kind of dance with her hands as she closes her eyes and conjures more words that her younger self can’t understand.

She finishes by closing her hands into fists and when she does, there’s more creaking, and a loud, whooping sound that brings a really cold breeze with it.

“Grab the staff. We need to leave”

Nico does her best to ignore the ashes next to the staff.

It still hurts that she wasn’t able to save him.

It scares her that now they won’t get to know the truth. What did she ever do to make things so bad between them? Maybe it all comes back to that time he spent in the Dark Dimension, which was also her fault.

Nico looks at the younger Alex, he’s scared like everyone else is. There must be a million things going through his head right now, just like in Nico’s. Alex was always her best friend, the person that she trusted the most, and that she cared about the most… before she fell in love with Karolina and then she took all of those spots. She also abandoned him in a way.

“Hey”

Karolina is suddenly next to her, stroking her arm “You okay? We need to go”

Nico nods and holds Karolina’s hand as she guides them out of the hostel. Te rest of the team is already outside, which looks like nothing happened.

“Was that snow?” Molly says “That was so cool”

Nico sighs “Well, we don’t need to start fire season early in California. It will put out the fire, but I don’t think the hostel will be inhabitable for now”

“What you guys just did… that was really badass. You saved all of us” Young Karolina says, joining them.

“Not all of us” Nico sighs.

Then Alex speaks “It’s alright. Don’t feel so bad about it. He tried to kill us”

“I’m still sorry. We don’t know what happened to him to make him like that” Nico gives him a sad look “But it won’t happen again”

Young Karolina speaks again “It doesn’t matter. We’ll be okay this time” She grabs Alex’s hand “We’re not leaving anyone behind. Whatever comes our way. We fix it together. And we’ll stay together. We’re a family, and we can learn from our mistakes”

Nico catches her younger self smiling like an idiot at that. Did she always look so smitten?

Karolina just had that effect on her. She always had a kind word, a way to erase all her fears without even knowing that they were there. Nico turns to see her Karolina standing right next to her.

Does she get to call Karolina hers again?

“She’s right” Karolina says “Everything will be okay”

Nico sighs, it’s a little hard to focus back on reality, but now there’s another problem “Except that if the watches got destroyed, now we’re totally stuck-“

“Except they didn’t” Chases cuts her off, pulling the watches out of his pocket.

“He is smart AND beautiful” Gert says, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

The younger Nico speaks again “I hope you also have a house in one of those pockets, because now we’re back to being homeless”

They hear Old Lace roaring behind Gert.

“Right” the girl says “As much as I hate to say this… we kinda aren’t?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!! Thank you guys for reading. I hope you guys are still enjoying this. I had like a moment where I was thinking about expanding this and getting into more detail about Chase and Alex from the future future... but I think I will stick to the original story that i wrote... focus on closure...
> 
> So the end is near!! Where are the Runaways heading now??
> 
> Will Karolina, Molly and Nico make it back to their timeline?
> 
> I hope you tell me how you’re liking this so far!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked that first chapter. This one won't be that long. I guess it will be like 5 parts. I just want to read if there are any people interested hahahaha it’s been kinda long and I don’t know how active the fandom still is hahaha
> 
> I would love if you give me your thoughts and ideas about where this is going, and I hope this brings some closure like it did for me!


End file.
